Device for releasably latching filters and lamp lenses in range hoods

ABSTRACT

A removable filter unit is mounted in a range hood to pivot about its rear edge into an operative position rearwardly of a removable light lens, and beneath the hood&#39;&#39;s exhaust fan. A finger-actuatable latch is pivoted on the forward edge of the filter unit, and has a slot in its upper end engageable over a stationary pin in the hood to secure the unit in its operative position, at which time a flange on the forward edge of the unit engages and clamps the rear edge of the light lens against the hood also to lock the lens in place. The lower end of the latch is manually actuatable to pivot the latch to released position to disengage its slot from said pin, thereby to permit the filter unit to pivot downwardly, and the lens to be slid rearwardly for removal.

United States Patent Fox [54] DEVICE FOR RELEASABLY LATCHING FILTERS ANDLAMP LENSES IN RANGE HOODS [72] Inventor: Norman P. Fox, Springwater,NY. [73] Assignee: Fasco Industries, Inc., Rochester, NY. [22] Filed:Apr. 13, 1970 [2]] App]. No.: 27,691

Welch ..98/1 15 K 1 1 May9,l972

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,297,543 5/l962 France ..98/ll5K888,823 2/1962 GreatBritain ..98/ll5K Primary Eraminer-Bemard NozickAttorney-Shlesinger, Fitzsimmons & Shlesinger.

[57] ABSTRACT A removable filter unit is mounted in a range hood topivot about its rear edge into an operative position rearwardly of aremovable light lens, and beneath the hoods exhaust fan. Afinger-actuatable latch is pivoted on the forward edge of the filterunit, and has a slot in its upper end engageable over a stationary pinin the hood to secure the unit in its operative position, at which timea flange on the forward edge of the unit engages and clamps the rearedge of the light lens against the hood also to lock the lens in place.The lower end of the latch is manually actuatable to pivot the latch toreleased position to disengage its slot from said pin, thereby to permitthe filter unit to pivot downwardly, and the lens to he slid rearwardlyfor removal.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEBMAY 91972 3, 660,969

FIG. 1

I8 INVENTOR. NORMAN P. FOX

ATTORNEYS DEVICE FOR RELEASABLY LATCHING FILTERS AND LAMP LENSES INRANGE HOODS This invention relates to range hoods, such as are employedfor filtering odors and grease from cooking vapors that arise fromkitchen ranges during use. More particularly, this invention relates toa novel latching device for removably securing filter units and lightlenses in hoods of the type described.

Range hoods nowadays usually contain, in addition to the required greaseand fume filters, lights for illuminating the cooking surfaces of theranges; and removable, transparent cover plates are ordinarily mountedon the hoods to protect the lenses. The filters have to be removed,cleaned and replaced periodically, when they become unduly clogged ordirty. Likewise, the transparent cover plates for the lamps have to beremovable so that they can be readily cleaned when necessary, and sothat the lamps can be replaced.

With the spring-loaded method heretofore most commonly used in theindustry for securing filter units and transparent cover plates orlenses in range hoods, there is always the possibility of the filterunits or lenses dropping out of the hoods due to vibration or shock orbecause they have not been firmly seated in place. Moreover, with thestructures heretofore used it has been difficult for the averagehousewife to remove either the filters or the light lenses, whenproperly placed, for cleaning or replacement purposes without employinga screwdriver 'or some other tool to release or unlatch the hood filterunit and/or light lens. Often, too, where filter and lens latchingmechanisms are employed, they are located where they are difficult tosee, and equally difficult to reach with a tool.

A prime object of this invention is to provide a mechanically securemethod of attachment of filter unit and lens in a range hood, which willbe superior to the conventional spring loaded means.

Another object of this invention is to provide for hoods of the typedescribed novel latching means, which will enable the average housewife,or anyone with little or no mechanical ability, readily to remove andreinsert a range hood filtering unit, and/or light lens, without the useof any tools.

Another object of this invention is to provide for a range hood of thetype described a single, readily accessible, fingeractuatable camlatching device for removably securing both a filter unit and a lightlens in a hood.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel cam latchingdevice of the type described which remains attached to the removablefilter unit of the associated range hood so that it cannot be dropped oraccidentally lost when the filter unit is removed.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from thespecification or from the recital of the appended claims, particularlywhen read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a range hood of the type incorporating acam latching device made in accordance with one embodiment of thisinvention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of this hood with portions thereof broken away andshown in section for purposes of illustration;

H6. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of this hood takenalong the line 3-3 in FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, on the same scale as FIG. 3, andtaken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The hereinafter described hood is adapted to be mounted in conventionalmanner above the cooking surface of a kitchen range to collect andfilter fumes and cooking vapors that arise from the food being cooked onthe range. It contains one or more lamps, which direct light downwardlyto illuminate the cooking surface of the stove, and one or more filterunits, which are positioned removably beneath an exhaust fan that iscontained in the hood to draw cooking fumes through the filters beforeexhausting the fumes into the kitchen or out-ofdoors.

Referring now to the drawing by numerals of reference, 10 denotes arange hood having on its forward wall a pair of switches 11 and 12 foroperating, respectively, the exhaust fan contained in the hood (notillustrated), and the lamp or lamps (not illustrated) that are used toilluminate the cooking surface of the associated range.

Removably mounted in the hood 10 beneath the exhaust fan, and with itsrear edge removably seated on a flange 14 formed along the lower, rear,inside edge of the hood, is a filter unit 15. Along its forward edgeunit 15 has a lateral flange or lip 16, which projects beneath the rearedge of a removable light lens or translucent plate 18, which is mountedin the hood beneath the illuminating lamp, or lamps, and forwardly ofthe filter unit 15. Both the filter unit 15 and the lens 18 are securedremovably in the hood by a cam latching device denoted generally at 20.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, 22 denotes a metal bracket or plate,which extends along the forward edge of the filter unit 15. The loweredge of plate 22 is bent forwardly to form the above-noted flange l6,and its upper edge is bent rearwardly to form a flange 23. Brazed,welded or otherwise secured to the back of plate 22 beneath and parallelto the flange 23 is a rearwardly facing channel member 24. The two,conventional, filter elements 25 and 26 of the unit 15 are sup ported attheir formed edges by the channel 24, and in the space between thechannel 24 and the upper flange 23, respectively, of plate 22.

Secured to plate 22 substantially medially of its ends is a headed rivet28. Mounted intermediate its ends on pin 28 to pivot thereabout againstthe face of plate 22 is a flat cam plate or latch 30. The lower end oflatch 30 projects downwardly through a slot or notch 32 in the flange 16of plate 22 and has formed thereon a tab 33 for manipulating the latch.Adjacent its upper end the latch 30 has therein slot 35, the inner endof which is slightly enlarged as at 36. Slot 35 is radially spaced fromthe pin 28 to register at its open end with a latchpin 38, whichprojects from an inclined wall 40 that overlies the confronting edges ofthe unit 15 and the lens 18 when the filter and lens are in place in thehood.

Wall 40 forms part of a fan housing, which is fixed in the hood tosupport the exhaust fan (not illustrated) above unit 15. lts lower edgeis positioned directly above the removable light lens 18 adjacent theinner or rear edge thereof.

The slot 32 in flange l6 permits latch 30 to be pivoted by its tab 33approximately 60 (FIG. 3) about the pin 28 to move the latch to and fromlocking engagement with pin 38.

For purposes of illustration, the latch 30 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 ina position in which it is partway between fully latched and fullyreleased positions. By manipulating the tab 33 with a thumb or finger,the latch 30 may be pivoted further in a counterclockwise direction(FIG. 3) about the pin 28 to cause the pin 38 to enter into full lockingengagement with latch 30 in the enlarged inner end 36 of the notch 35.During this movement a camming surface 42 formed on the upper edge ofslot 35 causes the pin 28, and hence the plate 22 and the entire filterunit 15, to be urged upwardly at its forward end. This causes the flange16 on plate 22 to engage and urge the rear edge of the light lens 18upwardly into a locked position against the lower edge of the fanhousing wall 40. When the enlarged end 36 of slot 35 engages around theshank of pin 38, the rear edge of the lens plate 18 will be lockedfirmly between the wall 40 and the flange l6; and both unit endge andlens 18 will be locked against vertical and lateral movement.

To release the unit 15 and the lens 18, the latch 30 is swung by its tab33 in a clockwise direction about the pin 28 (FIG. 3) until the shank ofpin 38 has become completely disengaged from the slot 35. At this timethe unit 15, together with the latch 30 which is pivoted thereon, arefree to drop or pivot downwardly from the hood 10 about the flange 14 onits rear edge. This permits the unit 15 to be completely removed fromthe hood so that filter elements 25 and 26 can be removed, and lens 18can be slid rearwardly and removed for cleaning.

After the lens 18 has been cleaned, it is reinserted into the hood; andthen the rear edge of a cleaned or substitute unit is placed on theflange 14 of the hood 10, and its forward edge is swung upwardly untilthe flange l6 thereon reengages the underside of the lens 18 in themanner illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The latch 30 is then again swungback into locking engagement with pin 30.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the instant inventionprovides relatively simple and readily accessible and operable means forreleasably latching both the filter unit and the light lens of a rangehood in place. When the latch 30 is in its locking position, it has acenter of gravity which registers vertically with the axis of the pivotpin 28, thereby increasing the strength and stability of locking.Moreover, when the latch 30 is fully seated in its latched position, theshank of the latch pin 38 seats snugly in the enlarged diameter end 36of the slot 35 to prevent accidental rotation of latch 30 towardreleased position. When the unit 15 is removed the latch remains securedthereto, so that there are no small, individual moving parts that can beaccidentally dropped or lost during the removal or reinsertion of thefilter unit. In addition, the camming surface 42 on latch 30 operates todraw the flange 16 on the filter unit resiliently and firmly intocontact with the trailing edge of the lens 18 to hold the lens firmly inplace.

I claim:

1. A range hood having an inlet opening in its bottom, and meansremovably supporting a light lens and a filter unit in and across saidopening,

said supporting means comprising a flange on said hood at the rear ofsaid opening on which the rear of said filter unit rests.

means on said hood for holding the front end of the lens,

a forwardly projecting lip on the front of the filter unit on which therear end of the lens is seated, and

cooperating locking members respectively mounted on the front end of thefilter unit and on an inner wall of the hood for releasably locking thefilter unit in the hood transverse of the opening and simultaneouslylifting the lip into position to force the lens against a stop in thehood to hold the lens in place,

said filter unit, upon release of said locking members being slidableforwardly ofi" said flange and rockable downwardly to remove it from thehood, and

said lens being slidable rearwardly and rockable downwardly to remove itfrom said opening after said filter unit has been removed from the hood,

the front end of said filter unit being disposed closely adjacent therear end of said lens to prevent removal of the lens from the hoodwithout prior removal of the filter unit.

2. A range hood as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locking meanscomprises a pin fastened to the wall in the hood, and

a latch member pivotably mounted on the front end of the filter unit,said latch member having an arcuate cam slot therein to engage said pin.

1. A range hood having an inlet opening in its bottom, and meansremovably supporting a light lens and a filter unit in and across saidopening, said supporting means comprising a flange on said hood at therear of said opening on which the rear of said filter unit rests, meanson said hood for holding the front end of the lens, a forwardlyprojecting lip on the front of the filter unit on which the rear end ofthe lens is seated, and cooperating locking members respectively mountedon the front end of the filter unit and on an inner wall of the hood forreleasably locking the filter unit in the hood transverse of the openingand simultaneously lifting the lip into position to force the lensagainst a stop in the hood to hold the lens in place, said filter unit,upon release of sAid locking members being slidable forwardly off saidflange and rockable downwardly to remove it from the hood, and said lensbeing slidable rearwardly and rockable downwardly to remove it from saidopening after said filter unit has been removed from the hood, the frontend of said filter unit being disposed closely adjacent the rear end ofsaid lens to prevent removal of the lens from the hood without priorremoval of the filter unit.
 2. A range hood as claimed in claim 1,wherein said locking means comprises a pin fastened to the wall in thehood, and a latch member pivotably mounted on the front end of thefilter unit, said latch member having an arcuate cam slot therein toengage said pin.